Reading, writing and risk?

It’s a list no school wants to be on. The Pennsylvania Department of Education’s "persistently dangerous schools" list, released Aug. 17 as part of its 2004-05 School Violence Report, names this year’s academic offenders by the numbers, with a South Philadelphia middle school among them.

Edwin H. Vare, at 24th Street and Snyder Avenue, reported enough incidents in the last school year to land on the list — for the second time.

The state determines a persistently dangerous school based on "arrests involving a dangerous incident," said Education Department spokesperson Bethany Yenner.

Vare, which is managed by Universal Companies and encompasses grades five through nine, had an enrollment of 794 in the 2003-04 academic year, and reported 18 arrests for incidents meeting the state’s danger criteria.

Vare principal Clarence A. Martin Sr. said the numbers don’t tell the "true story," however, and he encourages doubtful residents to visit the middle school.

Martin admitted that when he became Vare’s principal last year, he knew he was entering a problematic culture.

"A lot of students that should have been transferred were not," he noted, adding that only about 30 students with behavioral problems were moved to alternative education programs in the last two years as a result of the School District of Philadelphia’s "zero-tolerance" policy toward violence.

Due to the initiative, the district has transferred 2,500 students citywide for behavioral problems, the principal said.

Martin said that when he arrived at Vare, he focused immediately on good behavior and scholarships and also beefed up security.

"I think we improved last year in terms of making sure students knew this was a safe place," he said. "People not assigned to Vare have asked to have their children assigned here. Now if this is such a dangerous place, why do they want their children here?"

The number of state-listed persistently dangerous schools in Philadelphia has dropped from 28 in 2002-03 to 14 in the last academic year. All 14 schools on this year’s hit list are within the Philadelphia district and are mostly high schools; last year’s tally included a school from the Chester district.

But the numbers can’t accurately be compared because the state changed its criteria in categorizing dangerous schools this year: The Department of Education no longer counts simple assaults.

Dangerous incidents are classified as weapons possession or violence (homicide, kidnapping, robbery, sexual offenses and aggravated assaults) resulting in arrest. The state counts only incidents that occur on school property during the academic year, Yenner said.

Drugs were not a determining factor in ranking dangerous schools at the state level, but next year they will be, the spokesperson added.

To land on the list, schools with an enrollment of 250 or less would have reported at least five dangerous incidents; those, like Vare, with 251 to 1,000 students, at least 2 percent of its enrollment; and for schools with at least 1,000 students, 20 or more dangerous incidents.

Vare also made the previous year’s state list, then including simple assaults.

South Philadelphia High School, Broad Street and Snyder Avenue, also landed on last year’s list, but did not resurface this time — which is the whole point, said Yenner.

"That is our ultimate goal — to make improvements in those schools to get them off the list," she said.

Schools that do earn the danger distinction get a visit from a team of Department of Education officials, who then develop a game plan to make improvements.

John Bartram High School, at 67th Street and Elmwood Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia, also made the statewide roster this year.

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, states must establish standards for identifying "persistently dangerous schools" so safety problems can be addressed and corrected.

Students who attend schools on the hit list are entitled to transfer.

Schools use an online reporting system to notify the state of any violent incident that has occurred. But the list of persistently dangerous schools is "only as accurate as the schools are reporting it to us," said Yenner.

"We count on schools to accurately report the information, and we hope that when there is a violent incident, schools will report it to the Department of Education," she added.

Vare principal Martin said he reports all incidents to the state.

"My first priority in this school is that every child and every staff member will be safe — because if they are not safe, I cannot educate them," he said.

This year, the Department of Education also implemented some changes with the reporting guidelines.

Superintendents now are required to sign an incident list before submitting it, Yenner said.

And, to avoid any reporting confusion, the state got more specific on defining criminal offenses — felonies, misdemeanors and citations — as they relate to the School Violence Report. The current list of definitions is 10 pages long.

Many of the definitions and citations are taken directly from the state’s Title 18 Criminal Code. The Department of Education’s list starts by defining what qualifies as an aggravated assault and ends with what constitutes a "riot-related citation."

"The definitions got more specific so there wasn’t any confusion [on the part of school officials] as to what something meant," Yenner noted.

The Philadelphia district keeps it own list of dangerous schools — 50 in all. However, schools CEO Paul Vallas won’t publicize the list because, according to officials, he doesn’t want to brand those that have been targeted for intervention.

"He prefers not to name those schools and release those schools because he doesn’t want to label any one of those schools," said district spokesperson Cameron Kline.

Nor would the district disclose how many of the 50 schools are in South Philly, the spokesperson added.

However, without confirming whether or not Vare was on the city’s hit list, district Chief Safety Executive Dexter Green did release the school’s crime statistics from the last two academic years.

According to figures from the Office of Climate and Safety, headed by school police chief Green, Vare Middle has experienced an increase in every type of violent offense except robbery, which remained the same. (See sidebar for the numbers breakdown.)

Many of the schools on the city’s roster don’t make the state’s list because the violence occurs off school property or when classes aren’t in session. For example, Thomas M. Peirce Elementary School in North Philly didn’t make Pennsylvania’s list of dangerous schools this year, even though 10-year-old Faheem Childs was fatally shot and a crossing guard wounded by stray bullets from a street gunfight in February.

"The environment outside a school is just as important a factor in school safety as what is happening inside its walls," Vallas stated in a press release last month.

This year, the School District of Philadelphia has a new code of student conduct that it hopes will deter violence, Kline said, describing the code as "clearer and tougher."

In addition, the district has introduced a new dress code and "other supports that work together to improve safety," he said.

Students who attend Vare Middle School can expect the new code of conduct and dress to be strictly enforced, said Martin.

Vare crime by the numbers